


A Red Spider Lily

by luneofmeadow



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Bottom Loki (Marvel), Five-Flavoured Tea of Forgetfulness, Human AU, I swear it has happy ending, Kinda, Loki is dead, M/M, Meng Po - Freeform, Nei Ha Bridge, Sad with a Happy Ending, Top Thor (Marvel), inspired by Chinese mythology of Meng Po, this story is about his soul, urggg i can’t tag properly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2021-02-22 21:55:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23001001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luneofmeadow/pseuds/luneofmeadow
Summary: The soothing waves from Meng Po couldn’t stop his tears anymore, Loki is now shaking furiously. The old lady exchanges look with her little servant and sighs.“Son, people live, people die. That is the wheel of the universe. You passed away now, but you are to reincarnate into another life. You just need to drink this tea, my Five-Flavoured Tea of Forgetfulness and forget all the sorrows of this life”.“But I don’t want to”, Loki sobs without looking up, “There is someone I don’t want to forget”.a Thorki story that is heavily inspired by one of the Chinese mythologies.
Relationships: Loki/Thor (Marvel)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 39





	1. Main Story

**Author's Note:**

> I happened to be into Chinese mythologies and amazed by the story of Meng Po and her Five-Flavoured Tea of Forgetfulness. I want to blend Thorki with it. I couldn't get it out of my head, hence this fic. I posted hastily on Twitter and Tumblr and was relieved to receive some positive motivation.  
> In this story, Realm of the Dead, Meng Po, her tea, Nei Ha Bridge, WangChuan River, Red Spider Lily, and SanShengShi rock belong to the mythology. Other stuff if you find them weird, yes that's from me.  
> In any chance, if you are Chinese and find the mythology of your culture is put inaccurately into this fic, my apologies. There are not many credible sources in English for me to search for information and Google Translate doesn't really do its work probably. That plus English is not my native language makes it harder for me to deliver the meaningfulness of the mythology. 
> 
> This one is un-beta'd, please let me know if there is any mistake I will fix asap. I need to stop my bad habit of impulsive writing and posting :-<

Loki looks up to the sign that is floating above the rainbow shape bridge, “Nai He Bridge” it writes. Touching the handle of the bridge that is an assembly of white big granite rocks, he looks down at the black ink water flowing underneath it. He turns to observe the people that are walking past him, they all have the same impression: confused, just like him. He doesn’t know this place, one minute ago he was crossing the road, minutes later he is here. 

“Line up”, someone calls, “Line up, come up here one by one, if you don’t want to fall into the WangChuan River and have your soul dissolved”. 

He nods unconsciously to himself and follows the line that is quickly formed in front of him, nobody wants to disappear. The line moves fast, nobody says anything, and Loki sees a table in the middle of the path, blocking the other half of the bridge. An old lady is managing the whole set of glasses on top of the table, next to her is a big pot of some clear liquid. It seems hot, Loki frowns, he doesn’t want to drink that unknown drink, but people in front of him are chucking it in eagerly. 

“Next!”, a little demon with red skin and three horns on his forehead is calling him, “I said next, hurry up we don’t have time!”. 

He steps up, “Sorry, where am I?”, he hears himself asks the little demon, his voice sounds weak as whispers. The demon doesn’t even look at him. 

“Heyya, another one, why people can’t just know that they are dead! This is the Realm of the Dead, and that lady,” He tilts his head towards the lady, “is Meng Po, you must drink her tea to reincarnate, hurry up”. 

With widened eyes, Loki steps back, he can’t even form words out of his mouth, 

“What, what do you mean I’m dead? Why? I was, I was..” his mouth quickly turns downward, he wants to wake up from this strange dream. 

“Heyya, Meng Po, please?” the demon pouts at his master and the lady stands up, she gestures Loki to sit down in front of her. 

“Calm down, my son”, she puts her hand up and Loki somehow calms down, his tears stop falling, “Let me see”, Meng Po stirs her oversize teapot and looks at it, the surface of the liquid inside turns into a mirror-like screen, 

“You don’t remember, do you? I see that you got hit by a truck in an attempt to save a boy. A heroic act, I have to say, that’s why you are allowed to go straight to your next life without undertaking judgement from the God of Death. You sacrificed yourself for others”. Meng Po finishes with a smile to him. 

But Loki couldn’t take it, he remembers now, he was running out of the house after a fight with Thor. Thor called him selfish and he said that he didn’t love Thor. Would those be the last words Thor heard from him? 

The soothing waves of Meng Po couldn’t stop his tears anymore, he is now shaking furiously. The old lady exchanges look with her little servant and sighs. 

“Son, people live, people die. That is the wheel of the universe. You passed away now, but you are to reincarnate to another life. You just need to drink this tea, my Five-Flavoured Tea of Forgetfulness and forget all the sorrows of this life”. 

“But I don’t want to”, he sobs without looking up, “There is someone I don’t want to forget”. 

The demon puts his arms up in surrender “Another one! When can people stop being naive?”,

Meng Po quickly glares at him and the annoying monger squirms 

“Heyya, I better do my job. Next person, up here, hurry up!”, the demon moves on with his duty, leaving them alone. 

Meng Po, being here for thousands of years, she is too experienced with this type of refusal, holds his hand and asks, 

“Tell me, is that your lover?”

“Yes”, Loki nods 

“Time here works differently from on the Land of the Lives, it seems a few minutes to you but it has been months since the day of your accident”. Looking straight into Loki’s panicking eyes, “Do you think he will continue to remember you up there? He must have someone else already. The definition of Love is fragile. It only exists when you have your better half in your arms, flesh, bones, and breathing. Do you want to see how he is doing?” 

She asks and Loki nods, he doesn’t want to think Thor believed that he didn’t love him and has moved on. 

Meng Po stirs her pot again and moves aside for him to have enough space to watch.

And he is right.

Thor is hugging his green sweater, his favorite one, and is crying. His hair and bear are messed up, his blue eyes are dull gray. He refuses his friends’ attempt to speak some senses into him. He abandons himself and keeps talking to Loki’s sweater. 

“I wish you were here, my love”, Thor smiles sorrowly, “I miss you, I have been looking for you everywhere. People keep telling me about your death but they don’t know you are still alive and just simply lost your way home”, wipes off his tears, Thor kisses the neck of his sweater, “I will find you and bring you home. I will be your guide”. 

Loki breaks down and dips his hand into the pot, he wants to touch Thor, wants to caress the man that he holds dear in his heart. But Thor’s image disappears by his fingers. It is just a magical reflection after all. 

Meng Po hugs the crying man, patting his head “If you don’t want to forget him, you can stay here and wait for him to go to the next life together”. 

“I want to,” Loki chokes out, “I want to amend, I want to tell him I love him, and that my last words to him were a lie”. 

Holding his shoulders up, makes him face her, Meng Po continues, “But you have to be aware that a human’s lifespan is just around 100 years at most, as you died at your 20 years old, you can only wait for him 80 years more. When you reach 100 years and still not reincarnate, your soul will be flown into the WangChuan’s water. Am I making myself clear?” 

He can wait for Thor. As sadden and twisted as it sounds, if humans can only live for 100 years, Thor will definitely come. He is now 30 years old, Loki only needs to wait for 70 years more, or even less than that. 

“Yes, I will wait for him”, he says and Meng Po takes her glass of tea back. 

\---

Loki chooses a spot by the bank of the river, where he can see the spirits that walk up to the bridge clearly. And he waits. 

In the first 10 years, Loki makes friends with all the demons and spirits in the realm. They are curious about a wandering spirit, who refused a chance to relive just to sit by the river and come to talk to him. 

In the next 40 years, Loki starts to help Meng Po to prepare herbs for her forgetful tea, though he is not allowed to serve tea with her. Her servant, the little three horns demon, who named “Heyya” after his favorite phrase has become his best friend. 

Only 30 years left, Loki counts. Thor is having a long life. He must be healthy and happy, and Loki has more assurance to wait, knowing that the man in his heart is doing well. 

10 years, then another 10 years have passed. His eyes have lost their sparkles, evidence of the weakening of his soul. But he still has time. 

5 more years, Loki can’t move around much, only Meng Po and Heyya still visit him. Especially Heyya, the little lousy demon looks at him with pleading eyes. He begs him to drink the tea and pass the bridge, to live again, to have a good life. There is no way Thor can live this long. He must have missed Thor at some point. His body is almost transparent now, but his hair is still black. “He will come, I can wait”, Loki answers. 

On the last day of the last 5 years, Heyya and Meng Po, after finishing their works, rush to Loki’s spot, intending to force him to drink the damn liquid. They collapse as soon as they see something small and red at the place that should have a familiar figure sitting instead. A lonely Red Spider Lily, it blooms beautifully with its petals, thin and long, reaching up high to the sky.

Heyya’s wailing echoes through the realm, shakens the God of Death out of his sleep. 

\---

“Hey, don’t push me”, spirit A whines at someone urging her to move faster, “Wait for your turn!”

“Oh, I’m sorry”, spirit B apologies, “I just want to see the Red Spider Lily” 

“What lily?” spirit A asks curiously, her eyes follow the other’s gaze. 

“Red Spider Lily, Meng Po’s treasure. While waiting for my turn to receive judgement, I heard the demons discussing it”. 

“What is that about?”, spirit C joins the conversation and spirit B inclines her head up proudly. Her time to shine. 

“Well, they say the lily grows at where a young man used to sit and waited for his lover. When it blooms, its leaves die and its leaves only grow again when the petals fall off. The flower reminds them of a tragic love story, where the lovers can never meet each other and be together. They say when you drink Meng Po’s tea and pass the bridge, the lily will keep your memories, and you may be reminded of your love in your past life”. 

When spirit B finishes, spirit A and C are already sobbing, “What a sad flower!” 

They startle when a little three horns demon sneaks up behind them, disturbing their gossiping. 

“You three women, come up here, your turns. Heyya, talk too much!” 

Heyya huffs annoyingly at the spirits. But when he turns away to pour tea for them, the little demon bites his lips to stop his whimper. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can stop here if you like this sad ending. Otherwise, please be patient for the next chapter of a happier ending to be posted within this week.  
> Thanks very much for reading! :)


	2. Happier Ending(s)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, I've added 3 more characters that I researched later: The God of Death - King Yan (or Yanlou Wang), Ox-Head, and Horse-Face, the two guards of the realm, also in the Chinese myth, their responsibilities are to find and pick up the spirit of the passed aways.  
> I hope the ending doesn't make the story off track. 
> 
> Un-beta'd and impulsive posting again. I just have to get it out of my chest, otherwise, I will just keep thinking about this one. If you see any mistake, pls let me know I will fix asap.  
> Heyyyaaa my English needs to be improved more >"<

King Yan, the God of Death paces around his hall desperately. It has been one hundred years since the day that red lily suddenly blossomed near the bridge but Heyya still doesn’t do anything to subdue his grief. 

In fact, King Yan thinks Heyya is actually embracing it with the encouragement of his master. 

When he brought this up, Meng Po and Heyya kept accusing him of being heartless, for letting a man’s soul disappear into the water without helping him. Well, how could he disobey and breach the rule that was written by his own hand? 

Sighing the fourth time, he rubs his forehead. It’s not that he didn’t cry over the sad story, he has a greater concern to think about. There is a leak somewhere in his system that lets a soul live for more than a hundred years, two hundreds to be precise. He has been waiting for that soul to arrive here. Even though there were cases in which some individuals’ ages surpassed the limited lifespans, this amount of time exceeded is too much. There were investigations conducted, in attempts to find out who among his staff made mistakes but the results were zero. 

“Sir, there is a spirit wandering around the river!”, a demon rushes in breathlessly. 

“Yeah? Is it my turn to do Meng Po’s job now, that you have to tell me about spirits walking to the bridge?”, his servant is all stupid. King Yan puffs out.

“No, sir. This man doesn’t come through the gate. Apparently he had been walking along the side of the river and getting into here”, the demon cries. 

WangChuan River is bottomless and its length runs across underneath of all the worlds in the universe. The river is endless, nobody knows where it starts and ends. However, King Yan is brightened up; The little, no cross that, the big problem that has been worrying him is about to solve itself. 

“Take him here”, the god walks to his high table and sits down. 

\---

Standing on the left and right side of the black beard and red eyes god are two strong guards, one has an ox head and one has a horse face. This place is strange. Thor looks around then when the silence in the hall is too much for him, he raises his hand up, intending to ask but the disappearance of the freckles and age spots on his hands pause him. 

Thor turns his palms up and down, then he touches his face and hair. His skin is smoother, his hair is shorter and thicker and blond, instead of gray. Is he, is he back to his thirties? When Thor glides his hand down to pinch his muscles, King Yan loses his patient. 

“Amazing, right? To be young again. Going back to the time you want to return the most?” 

Thor looks at the god hesitantly and asks

“Who are you? Where am I?” 

“My land, Realm of the Dead. Now my turn, how did you get here?”, King Yan crosses his arms at his chest. 

“I don’t know. I was walking and saw a strange river, I followed it out of curiosity to know where it leads to”, Thor answers. 

“Ahhhh”, the god exclaims. Thor was called by WangChuan River itself, that the river knew his unnatural aging and decided to take action. Looking left and right to ensure his guards are not peeking, King Yan opens his Book of Fate and looks for Thor’s details. 

Instead of 65 years old as planned, it was written 200 years old, with his own handwriting. While their master is covetingly wiping off sweats on his forehead, Horse-Face curls his fingers mimicking a glass shape, “drunk” he tells Ox-Head, “mistake”, and they glare at the king hatefully. 

“You said I’m dead? Then what will happen to me?” the god chuckles at his questions. When asked why he is too calm in this situation, Thor answers

“Sir, I have been living for 200 years. Nothing can surprise me anymore. Death is a gift, in fact. I had to witness people around me pass away one by one. I couldn’t stay in one place for too long to avoid suspicion. Do you know how that feels?”, Thor blinks to stop the swelling up tears in his eyes. 

“Well, now that your time has come,” the god says, “You just need to drink Meng Po’ tea of forgetfulness and reincarnate. Living that long is enough of punishment for whatever sins you conducted already, you don’t need my judgement”. 

If drinking the tea means he will forget everything, then Thor still has questions to ask

“Do you remember a young man with black hair and green eyes who came here before? Was he given a better life?”

“I don’t know, it has been a long time. There are thousands of spirits coming down here every day. I only have to serve rare cases like you!”, the god dismisses. 

The demon follows King Yan’s gesture and brings up a glass of clear liquid. If Loki is long gone, Thor will continue to look for him in the next life. Forget or remember, he is sure he will recognize Loki in any form, and life. And drink he takes. 

\---

Meng Po and Heyya dangle on the handle of Nai He Bridge, relaxing after work. Their eyes lock at the Red Spider Lily that they love greatly. It blooms every ten years, petals and leaves take turns but never seen together. Today is the day the flower blossoms, red, exquisite, and lonely. 

Despite the rumor, the lily doesn’t seem to keep or remind anyone of their memories. It just stands there, observing the movements around it, oblivious to the sorrow and happiness of mankind. People live, people die, the wheel keeps turning. The lily hasn’t tilted itself to any wind even once, just like a man named Loki once stubbornly exchanged his soul for a hopeless belief. 

“Hi Meng Po, hello Heyya!” Ox-Head calls, disturbs their thought. They see him escorting a spirit to the bridge. A special case from King Yan again, judging by the emptiness in his eyes, the man has consumed the tea already and now there is nothing left his head and heart. Live, die, live, die, an endless circle. 

“Thor”, something in the wind calls a name that sounds familiar to him and Thor looks up. 

“Thor”, the soft voice again. 

“Who? Are you calling me, is that my name?” Thor whispers, eyes look around. 

“Thor”, someone calls again and Thor stops walking, he turns to the river bank.

“Thor”, he sees a red flower. 

“Thor”, he steps forward. 

Meng Po and Heyya hold Ox-Head’s hands, preventing him from stopping the young man approaching the flower. This is the first time they see a spirit after consuming the brew dares to walk closer. Perhaps, Loki's lily is really keeping people’s memories after all, perhaps… 

“Thor”, he kneels down. 

“Thor”, his fingers touch the red petals tentatively, hesitantly, wonderingly. 

“Thor”, he closes his eyes, inhaling its scent. 

“Thor”, a young man is smiling at him. 

“Thor” a pair of green eyes shining like stars in the sky. 

“Loki”, Thor says, he doesn’t know when tears run down his cheeks, wetting the front of his shirt. 

“Loki”, calling the name that is carved in his heart for 200 years, Thor collapses. He remembers everything, remembers the first 30 years of his first life full of Loki. 

Loki in his childhood, Loki in his youth, Loki in his adult time. 

His life stopped at 30 years old, when Loki disappeared from his life completely. 

“Loki”, his brother, his lover, his everything. 

\---

On the bridge, Heyya hugs his master’s leg and cries with her. Ox-Head has run back to call King Yan. 

“Meng Po, he comes! He finally comes!”. Heyya almost chokes himself. 

“And Loki keeps his memory”, she whispers. Is Love still fragile? Does Love have to be tangible? 

Green leaves lengthen, reaching up and up, long and thin just like its petals. They wrap around the slender body, enveloping the red stalks. 

The phenomenon makes Meng Po grasp in shock and Heyya wails louder. 

“Stop wailing you monger!”, King Yan arrives and groans annoyingly, trying to catch his breath. 

“Please help them, sir!”, Meng Po points her finger to where Thor is hugging the lily, the young man is still weeping. Her master exhales, waves his hand in defeat and they move instantly to the bank. 

“Let me see, it was my fault after all”, King Yan commands “Hold him!”

The flower then flies into Thor’s palm. Thor hugs it into his chest and follows the god to the water hastily. 

“I don’t know if this still works, but no harm trying” using his left hand holds his sleeve up, King Yan dips his right hand into the water and holds up a small waterspout. It flows around Thor and drops after drops flow to the flower. A light ball quickly forms around him and explodes, urging everyone around to cover their eyes. 

“Loki!” Heyya yells as soon as he takes his hands down. 

Instead of the flower, Thor is carrying Loki in his arms, though still pale and yet to wake up from his deep sleep. 

“Give him time, he has been gone for more than a hundred years”, the king rubs his chin, satisfied with his power. 

However, his smile stops when Meng Po reminds him that in this condition, Loki can’t consume her tea and get into reincarnation. His spirit is too weak. 

Thor looks down at his peacefully sleeping lover. He doesn’t want to leave Loki alone ever again. He has so many things to tell Loki, to apologise, to make Loki happy. 

“I will see into that”, the king pats her shoulder assuringly. 

\---

10 years later 

“Hey”, Thor closes the door behind him, smiling gently at Loki. His lover has just woken up from his nap, rubbing his eyes dizzily. 

“How’s the gate today?” Loki asks him, voice sleepy. 

“As usual, good thing I see less young people arrive than last year”, he sits down on the edge of the bed. He kisses Loki’s forehead and he wraps his arms around him. 

“Stay?” Loki tilts his chin up, demands another kiss on his lips. 

“Anything you want, my love”, he answers then climbs to bed, hugging Loki into his chest. He nuzzles Loki’s hair, still full of the minty scent from his herbs preparing work. 

To amend his fault, King Yan allowed them to stay in the realm until Loki is ready to go into the next life. Loki resumes his work as Meng Po assistant and Thor keeps himself busy as the gate guard. 

“You know”, Thor says, “Those years without you, I wandered around unpurposely, breathing but not living. I wanted to disappear from the world but I couldn’t no matter how hard I tried. I thought it was my punishment for calling you selfish and making you run out of the house”. Thor squeezes Loki's hands when he hears a soft whimper. 

“Believing I was the cause of your death, and lived with it for more than a hundred years felt like being stabbed open from the inside by thousands of mini blades. My wound couldn’t be shut, it reopened every night when I closed my eyes, dreaming about you”. He sniffs into Loki’s hair, finding some comfort to stop his tears. “I wished I would not wake up”. 

He still couldn’t believe he is able to hug Loki tightly at this moment. 

“I’m so happy I think my heart stops beating”, he murmurs and Loki chuckles sobbingly. 

“It’s because you are a spirit now, you fool”, Loki elbows his ribs gently, giggling. 

He loves the sounds of Loki’s giggles, that he is grateful to be the one making Loki happy. Just one thing he needs to ask first. 

“When do you think we are ready to leave this realm?” He asks, indeed, he doesn’t want to go. 

Although he believes they can and will find each other in every life, something at the bottom of his heart selfishly doesn’t want their memories about each other to be wiped out. 

Loki grabs his face, his eyes contemplating, “What do you think if we stay here forever?”   
  
  


\---

That, or the original ending I first planned, your choice: 

They cant pass the bridge with past life memories but they are allowed to stay there, as the gate guards. Thor works outside and Loki stays inside.

They cant see each other as the gate can only be opened from the outside, nobody leaves the Realm of the Dead. But at least during quiet time, they lean to the wood doors can talk to each other. And when it’s the annual Ghost Festival on the Land of the Lives where spirits can go back and visit their families, the gate will open from the inside.

Loki and Thor can meet once a year for a month as the festival is in July of the Lunar calendar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are curious about the myths, please let me know, I will try to answer as best as I can with my limited knowledge. That's it! I hope you enjoy the story :)  
> Ah I forgot, this story is my attempt in contributing to Thorki Week event happening on Twitter right now. Use the tag #thorkiweek to enjoy the arts, fics, and threads. Topics vary every day!!!

**Author's Note:**

> If you have any comments or feedback, please feel free to let me know. I have so much to improve! :)


End file.
